Good news for motorists who use Anthony Henday

After three years of construction, the interchange at Yellowhead Trail and Anthony Henday Drive is finally open to free flowing traffic.

Crews are still putting finishing touches on the project, which will provide major relief to motorists.

“It’s going to change the traffic flow from frustration, which is everybody going through lots of bridges being built, lanes closures to get all of that done, to suddenly being able to go every direction without a stop,” said Bill Van der Meer, with Alberta Transportation.

The newly-opened interchange has a total of ten bridges, nine of which are new, making it the largest of about 8 other projects on that stretch of the thoroughfare. Officials say they expect to have all those projects on the northwest leg of the Henday complete within the next six weeks.

Motorists will then be able to enjoy 70 kilometers of a free-flowing ring road – welcome news for those who rely on the road for business.

The Acheson business district, for instance, relies on the route to help transport goods to the Alberta-Montana border.

“You’ve got to be able to get any resource or product moving, its got to move easily in and out and when you’ve got drivers stuck behind trains or held up in traffic – that costs money,” said Natalie Birnie, Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association, which has been using the . “We have close to 200 businesses in Acheson, so when we can move products and resources we are happy.”

Eventually Anthony Henday Dr. will be part of an 800 kilometer free flow corridor, stretching from Grande Prairie to the southern Alberta community of Nanton.

While work continues, motorists are reminded that speeds fines double in construction zones.

With files from Quinn Ohler, Global News.